Bob Lefsetz:

To die is to die.

Two days ago, no one was talking about meatloaf. In two days they won’t either, unless he’s an anti-vaxxer.

Steve Popovich was successful for a reason, and only one. Pop, a legendary publicist for CBS Records, left to form his own company, Cleveland International, distributed by his alma mater, and signed, released and promoted “Bat Out of Jail.” Nobody believed it.

Pop music?

he died. He has a legendary heart problem. But if you know Steve…he’s different from everyone else because he’s warm and sincere, which most publicists don’t have. Anyone can relate to him because he has no hold back, he is himself, he is a force of nature.

CBS, acquired by Sony, stops paying Pop royalties. He had to file a lawsuit to get them, and he never got a hundred cents, the biggest problem was that the sales were missing. Millions of people left the books.

But after the settlement, Sony continued to keep the Cleveland International logo on the album. Imagine the uproar if Gap sold Kanye’s clothes and left his name behind. As Bobo said, your name is everything, but he died before it was resolved.

Then there’s Todd Lundgren. Would “Bat Out of Jail” succeed if someone else was in charge? Possible, but doubtful. Especially in the past, the producer was well known to all fans and responsible for so many unique sounds and successes. Todd gave up trying to collect royalties from Sony, and he had the company buy him out.

And then there’s Jim Steinman, the genius who made all the music. Jim is educated and talented in an uneducated and stupid business. So he has a great reputation. Jim has a vision and refuses to compromise. Talent should be a cog in the machine, Jim isn’t. But now Jim is gone too.

Two days ago, the face of “The Bat Out of Jail” also passed, Mr. Loaf, Marvin Lee Aday.

Meat was kicking all the time and no one knew he was. Sure, he’s on stage, but there are very few people on stage, especially when you’re doing regional productions or revivals.

But when “Bat Out of Jail” hits, the music propaganda machine kicks in, when music news still makes sense, when it’s part of an artist’s development, when labels and managers and PR people cultivate someone’s identity and identity, he Always in the news. Put them in the spotlight so they can continue to generate income.

Meat can never keep up with it. He lost his voice. He needs Steinman.

All the buzz he had on “Roadie”, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is gone.

Meat and Jim then reunited and posted “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”.

Released at MCA, even the label didn’t expect it to be an instant hit. Al Teller took over from Irving Azoff and continued to market the previously signed product, but clicks started to dwindle. The meatloaf deal came about because Teller was at CBS during “Bat Out of Hell” and had a pre-existing relationship that is everything in this business, never forget it.

But due to being exaggerated and exaggerated in an era that has to be grunge or hip hop, the MTV exposure made me willing to do anything for love (but I wouldn’t do that)” a monster, now literally everyone knows Meat Loaf is Who, this is the power of MTV, a power that no longer exists on any platform.

You see the meat has good intentions. And certain sounds never really go away, the hit parades just stop featuring them.

But that’s it. Final cheers. After that, the meatloaf appeared in the rearview mirror.

Like everyone else in this story, with the exception of Todd Rundgren, who was slow to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Never an ass kisser, never a gamer, Todd didn’t fit the mold, so the door was shut until fans gathered online where he was eventually channeled and refused to show. Because you won’t settle with an enemy just because they throw bones at you. Legends are opinionated and go their own way. Rundgren is also not sensitive.

So now the meatloaf is gone.

74 years old.

Let’s see, Louis Anderson died of cancer at the age of 68. I’ll never forget the first time I saw him in Carson, he talked about being on the beach and the kids saying they had to roll him back into the water or he’d die. You got Louie in the first level. He was always overweight, made fun of himself first, and all the gym rats, the fit cops, said his weight would catch up to him, but they were wrong, big C.

Did obesity play a role in Anderson’s condition? possible. There’s some research out there, but it’s far from conclusive.

Did comorbidities cause the patty’s death? Absolutely!

Louie was never a proponent of false science, if anything, he was a therapist who brought us together. He didn’t want to die, but it wasn’t his choice.

Meatloaf is a famous villain/vaxxer and I’m sure he doesn’t want to die either, but he’s gone too. But he doesn’t have to.

Oh, and they haven’t come out explicitly that he’s not vaccinated. But if you got the triple vaccine today, the odds of dying, what did they just say, 90% of these people have never been to the hospital? Why is meatloaf not in the hospital?

Meat never strikes me as stupid. But if anything, he’s smart. He dropped out of college, lived on the fringes and was vulnerable to misinformation.

He’s not the only legendary older musician who isn’t on drugs. But in talking to these needle-less people, I haven’t heard any of them refer to science, a well-known authority, they just publish talking points and then tacitly say they’ve been doing their own research.

Louie cares about others.

These anti-vaxxers don’t care about anyone but themselves.

Do you personally know someone who has died from Covid? Of course I would. Almost all of them died before a vaccine was available. The guys after that, like Jerry Blair…refused to shoot.

I don’t care what his reasons are, Jerry’s gone, 100 percent, his loved ones can never get over it, most people will move on and forget him if they even know him.

This is too bad. error message. But what’s worse is that many of the idiots who provide these ignorance are paralyzed themselves. Talk about income inequality… yes, these people are rich, but they’re also educated and smart, they don’t want to die, but that’s okay if you want to!

The truth now is that “Bat Out of Jail” was never released on the West Coast. People here don’t know who Phil Rizzuto is unless they’re a transplant. It’s an East Coast thing, an inside thing. But Steinman’s work resonated through Meat, proving once again that the worst arbiter of talent and connection is the suit. It is artists who go deep inside and reveal their truths that resonate with others.

But that was a long time ago.

In the sixties and seventies, we turned to musicians for truth. They are our beacons. They can be trusted. Plus, their audience is united on the left side of the spectrum, and there weren’t young Republicans until the nineties, at least rock fans, at least those willing to admit it.

But those days are gone too.

Too much.

But a lot has happened. Internet, smartphone, streaming TV. No one wants to die today saying they have seen it all, actually everyone is dying to see more!

It turned out that the patty was bigger than we thought. Obituaries and tweets are positive and numerous. It would be nice if the meat could see them nearby.

That’s another story…live long enough and they’ll give you your victory lap, no matter how much they resent or hate you at the time. Wait a minute, they’ll salute you, give you an award, you’ll be the most important person again, and if you have anything else to say, people will hear it.

But that doesn’t happen to the meatloaf, it’s his own fault.

Still others say not to speak ill of the dead. The Fox News headline was about those who joked about Meat’s anti-vaccine claims and deaths. But the truth is that Fox and the right make fun of the left all day. If Mitch McConnell needs to, he will get out of the filibuster if the Republicans take the Senate. There are two sets of rules.

But there are no two sets of rules when it comes to health and science. Science is not about opinions, it is about facts.

Last night at Tucker Carlson Rand Paul talked about the negative impact of vaccines on the heart, which was trivial, but he did not mention the negative impact of Covid on the heart. You may not die, but you may be hindered forever.

Fauci is the enemy.

What’s the point here? Just like the NFL, it has to be included in concussion protocols. NFL players are replaceable, even stars. Careers are short, and the free-to-play minor leagues known as the NCAA offer a steady stream of players. So legends like Jim McMahon have highlights, but their ECT means they can’t work, and if they don’t kill themselves, they’re living zombie lives.

We are sending the wrong information here. It is a tragedy for a person to die overseas. In the US, a person dies of Covid and many don’t even shrug.

It would be one thing if we had no weapons, no defenses, but we do, and the vaccine works!

If they don’t, if they’re that harmful, won’t we see negative effects all day, people grow a second head and die? That didn’t happen. As for the future…it doesn’t matter if you’re dead, who wants to live in a society with so many missing.

Meatloaf ignorant. Look up the word in the dictionary. You’ll see “lack of knowledge, information or awareness of a particular thing”, in this case Covid, BINGO!

When I break a bone, I don’t go to YouTube, I don’t call my friends, no matter how much education they have, I go to the hospital!

This is also where the unvaccinated Covid cases are. You can’t choose science, you either believe it or you don’t.

In an alienated society where we’re all on our own pages, we don’t even get the same Google results, let alone search the same terms, we crave belonging. A common enemy brings us together. Hence, anti-vaxxers. Going against the troops and going out alone requires a lot of energy and backbone.

There have always been scapegoats throughout history, but their stories are often only revealed and amplified long before their time.

Now we have authoritarian states like Russia trying to rewrite history.

We have schools in America where we are told that certain books cannot be read and certain theories cannot be taught.

What we want is an educated populace who is capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, real and fake, and able to experience anything. Hell, those right people discount The New York Times, and even though it sets the agenda for Fox, they cite it more than any other outlet. Don’t you want to know what The Times said? Of course I checked Fox.

As for the trigger warning…it’s just a book. What kind of environment did you grow up in and never heard anything negative. Heck, you should touch these pieces to learn how to cope, because trust me, you will encounter triggers in real life.

Not that someone will advertise it, or that your friends will challenge you, but it’s this echo chamber that gets us into these issues. Everyone I know is triple vaccine, does that mean everyone in America is? of course not!

Trust me, if Meat Loaf spends a day with Anthony Fauci, he’ll be knocked out. You suppress the truth at your own risk. And the cost could be high and you could die.

And I wouldn’t bother to make a pun with a song of meat. I’ll just say…

What a waste.

~~~

access file:
—
hear podcast:
—
@Lefsetz
—
subscription Lefsett letter